Brass can be less slick after using a detergent or citric acid or both. My solution is to dry-tumble them in corncob media afterward. This also helps confirm even the primer pockets are dry.
I use dish detergent and lemishine. Automotive wash/wax products are an alternative. Experiment to see what you prefer.
I do deprime first and use pins. I found the most popular size pin and practically the only size available is just the right length to get jammed in 6.5mm case necks. Because of this, I want to try chips instead of pins, but since I overwhelmingly tumble straight-wall pistol brass, I haven't been motivated enough to do it yet.
The biggest problem I have in my experience with wet tumbling is peening of the case mouths. I'm working on solving this, but it takes time to confirm because the peening accumulates over time. My first potential solution is to reduce tumbling times. I bought dial timers and reduced my tumbling time to less than 1 hour. I may cut it to as little as 30 minutes. My second potential solution is to reduce the violence of the tumbling. I could slow the tumbler with a larger drum pulley. I've been experimenting with different water levels (brass should fall slower when the tub is totally full of water versus half-full). I also want to try adding more stainless media as a buffer.
The best advice I have to offer for anything related to brass batch processing is to go big. We spend enough time on the press whether single-stage or progressive. The last thing we want is to waste time cleaning or drying brass one case at a time, or 200 cases at a time, or even 500 cases at a time. The biggest drawback of the popular tumblers is they are too small. The FART, Thumlers, and STM all have less than 20 pound capacity. I think 35 to 50 pounds is a better size for non-professional hobbyists that might shoot more than 1000 rounds a month. The Frankford tumbler is one of the biggest of the popular tumblers and it can only hold "1000 .223 cases" without media. This is only the right size if you want to incorporate your whole cleaning brass routine into every range trip, or every other range trip, or at least once or twice a month. Personally, I would be happier if I only had to think about cleaning brass quarterly or semi-annually and I'd like to be able to clean a few thousand cases with media in one batch. The pros will use cement mixers to clean thousands of cases. Some of those cement mixers, cheap imports or Craigslist specials aren't more expensive than the popular tumbler models. They do take up more shop space than I have.
I rinse brass in hot water and I have no trouble with pin separation (other than the 6.5mm case issue I mentioned). I use a Frankford Standard Media Separator over a 5 gallon bucket. Its very simple and it works very well. I have one of those super neodymium magnets, but I only ever use it to pick up stray pins and that's very rare nowadays. I could just do without it.
I dry brass with a big towel. Having rinsed it in hot water, the hot brass dries pretty quickly. If I'm really in a hurry, I can use an air compressor, leaf blower, shop vacuum on blower mode or a heat gun. My tumbler limits me to about 500 cases at a time and for that volume, those methods work fine. If I was processing more brass (many thousands), I would pour it out single-layer on a mesh screen (hardware cloth) and leave it in the sun. Again, in my mind the key to efficiency is large scale, so kitchen appliances aren't going to help.
I use dish detergent and lemishine. Automotive wash/wax products are an alternative. Experiment to see what you prefer.
I do deprime first and use pins. I found the most popular size pin and practically the only size available is just the right length to get jammed in 6.5mm case necks. Because of this, I want to try chips instead of pins, but since I overwhelmingly tumble straight-wall pistol brass, I haven't been motivated enough to do it yet.
The biggest problem I have in my experience with wet tumbling is peening of the case mouths. I'm working on solving this, but it takes time to confirm because the peening accumulates over time. My first potential solution is to reduce tumbling times. I bought dial timers and reduced my tumbling time to less than 1 hour. I may cut it to as little as 30 minutes. My second potential solution is to reduce the violence of the tumbling. I could slow the tumbler with a larger drum pulley. I've been experimenting with different water levels (brass should fall slower when the tub is totally full of water versus half-full). I also want to try adding more stainless media as a buffer.
The best advice I have to offer for anything related to brass batch processing is to go big. We spend enough time on the press whether single-stage or progressive. The last thing we want is to waste time cleaning or drying brass one case at a time, or 200 cases at a time, or even 500 cases at a time. The biggest drawback of the popular tumblers is they are too small. The FART, Thumlers, and STM all have less than 20 pound capacity. I think 35 to 50 pounds is a better size for non-professional hobbyists that might shoot more than 1000 rounds a month. The Frankford tumbler is one of the biggest of the popular tumblers and it can only hold "1000 .223 cases" without media. This is only the right size if you want to incorporate your whole cleaning brass routine into every range trip, or every other range trip, or at least once or twice a month. Personally, I would be happier if I only had to think about cleaning brass quarterly or semi-annually and I'd like to be able to clean a few thousand cases with media in one batch. The pros will use cement mixers to clean thousands of cases. Some of those cement mixers, cheap imports or Craigslist specials aren't more expensive than the popular tumbler models. They do take up more shop space than I have.
I rinse brass in hot water and I have no trouble with pin separation (other than the 6.5mm case issue I mentioned). I use a Frankford Standard Media Separator over a 5 gallon bucket. Its very simple and it works very well. I have one of those super neodymium magnets, but I only ever use it to pick up stray pins and that's very rare nowadays. I could just do without it.
I dry brass with a big towel. Having rinsed it in hot water, the hot brass dries pretty quickly. If I'm really in a hurry, I can use an air compressor, leaf blower, shop vacuum on blower mode or a heat gun. My tumbler limits me to about 500 cases at a time and for that volume, those methods work fine. If I was processing more brass (many thousands), I would pour it out single-layer on a mesh screen (hardware cloth) and leave it in the sun. Again, in my mind the key to efficiency is large scale, so kitchen appliances aren't going to help.
